One for the Road

There is still an old wife’s tale doing the rounds that states that you can drive after two pints of beer. Another suggests that having a drink with food will reduce or completely cancel out any of the effects alcohol has on your faculties.

Neither of the above are true. The harsh reality is that even the minutest amount of alcohol can have significant effects on a driver. There are the obvious factors including weight, age and gender. There are those variables which make it almost impossible to calculate a safe level, including the type and amount you have drunk and what you have recently eaten. Then there is the often-ignored reality that levels of stress influence how your body processes alcohol.

The “safe” blood alcohol level for driving in the UK was established in 1967 and has not changed since. At a massive 80mg per 100ml of blood, it is vastly higher than that of many European countries, including Scotland, where the permissible alcohol level is 50mg per 100ml of blood.

Certain countries, for example Sweden, only allow an alcohol level of 20mg per 100ml of blood. Others, including many Muslim countries, have a zero-tolerance policy.

If the figures seem confusing or irrelevant, consider that at 50mg alcohol per 100ml of blood, the risk of causing a fatal road traffic accident is three times higher than if you had drunk nothing at all. At 80mg alcohol per 100ml you are six times more likely to be involved in a crash that results in a death.

At just 10mls of alcohol per 100ml blood, which may be as little as half a glass of wine, you are twice as likely to make an error behind the wheel resulting in a collision.

While the statistics may require a second read to digest, the way alcohol affects your ability is very straightforward.

Firstly, the brain takes longer to receive signals from the eye. When they arrive, the brain is slower to process this vital information. Finally, messages to the body’s muscles to move in a certain way are delayed.

The crux of the matter is that reaction times are slower, at a point where seconds make the difference between a near miss, and the unthinkable.

Factor in the time of the year, with visibility often reduced from midafternoon, and even having that one drink after work before the drive home may seem less wise.

Police discretion now allows a driver to be breathalysed at random, rather than if you have committed a traffic offence or are observed to be driving erratically or in an unsafe manner.

There is always increased traffic police presence during holiday seasons.

Failing a test will mean being taken to a police station for a further breath test. You may also be required to provide a blood or urine sample.

Needless to say, this will be a horrendously stressful experience, yet nowhere near that if you end up with a conviction. Consider the impact of losing your license on your ability to go about your daily life. If you cause a death due to dangerous driving while under the influence of alcohol, you could end up with a fourteen-year jail sentence and an unlimited fine.

Despite alcohol being allegedly embedded in our culture, over 75% support a lowering of the safe drink drive limit.

The British Medical Association and other notable organisations, including the road safety charity, Brake, have continuously lobbied for this long overdue change.

A BMA statement acknowledges that the harm caused by alcohol, “including when driving under the influence, places an avoidable burden on individuals and our society, emergency services, the NHS, and for the economy”.

For the unfortunate person or persons who die in a road traffic accident, and the other who causes death by making a wrong decision, two or more lives are ruined, with no way of going back.

This festive season, I urge anyone who is out celebrating with alcohol to leave the car at home. Whatever the cost of other transport, it will be far cheaper than the consequences of making a mistake while driving.

Even the minutest amount of alcohol can have significant effects on a driver.

Reaction times are slower, at a point where seconds make the difference between a near miss, and the unthinkable.

Despite alcohol being allegedly embedded in our culture, over 75% support a lowering of the safe drink drive limit.

Dr. Zakariya Waqar-Uddin, General Practitioner